Moon Prairie was at its BEST today!
Nine of us bundled up for very cold temperatures, lathered with sunscreen for the bright sunny day and headed off on Indian Memorial to the junction with FS37 where we parked. Snow looked a bit skimpy on the way down across the Vesper Meadows, open for a beautiful view of Mt. McLoughlin and Brown Mountain.
A few speculations that “we could always go back to Buck Prairie” (higher altitude. But, once we parked and crossed DIM and over the berm, we were delighted to see a full blanket of snow. Off we went. The snow was soft and dry for an easy trek without needing to break trail. One downed tree was easily circumvented. A couple of soft, thin and wet patches were avoided by taking short side circuits into the woods and back to the trail.
We reveled in beauty all around on this very sunny day, and didn’t go far before removing our outer wear. We stopped for our group picture with that iconic view across the meadow and meandering stream out to Mt. McLoughlin in its glory. Onward, we passed the cattle gate and the intersection, taking the right pathway up the hill to the open “amphitheater’ like opening surrounded by trees and stumps for sitting for lunch. Only 11 AM, the group decided to continue up the trail to the road and return to our wooded ‘amphitheater’ for lunch and, of course, chocolate (this time 90% cacao and only 1 gm sugar), good for a tasty pucker.
The return was just as pleasant. Everyone was thrilled to have what we classified as the best Moon Prairie day we’ve had over the years. We’d traveled 4 miles RT with 400’ elevation gain.
Elisabeth
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